EXPOSING THE FALSE DOCTRINE OF AMILLENNIALISM – WHY PASTORS DON’T TEACH ON ONE QUARTER OF THE BIBLE

Oscar Leske Where will you spend Eternity?

EXPOSING THE FALSE DOCTRINE OF AMILLENNIALISM – WHY PASTORS DON’T TEACH ON ONE-QUARTER OF THE BIBLE Facebook

I counted approximately 1.6 billion churchgoers world-wide that go to churches that teach the false doctrine of Amillennialism and hear nothing on prophecy even though over one-quarter of God’s word is on prophecy. I, myself, went to one of these churches for a number of years without hearing anything on prophecy in one Sunday sermon on Revelation preached from the pulpit made me query the pastor who gave the sermon and I said to him that my understanding of prophecy differed from his. He smiled at me and said, “Oh, that’s because we’re Amillennialists.” I was floored. Even though I have been going to different churches over the years I never knew there was such a thing as Amillennialism. I just took prophecy literally as the Bible teaches and I thought everybody else did the same. Anyways, over the following weeks and months I did a lot of reading on the doctrine of Amillennialism.This doctrine denies that there is a literal Rapture, a seven-year Tribulation and a literal kingdom over which Jesus Christ will rule on earth for 1000 years. It teaches that the 1000 years mentioned 6 Times in Revelation (c. 20) is a symbolic number. Augustine wrote in his book, The City of God, that the book of Revelation is a spiritual allegory, and that the Millennial kingdom began with the church, and Christ’s reign on earth is spiritual in nature. This erroneous theology was adopted by the Roman Catholic Church. This doctrine contrasted to what the apostles and what the vast majority of early church fathers taught. They taught that there would be a Millennial Kingdom where Christ reigned and ruled for 1000 years. It was not until the Catholic church bishop Augustine (354-430 A.D.), began to write on eschatology that the belief in a spiritual Millennial Kingdom took hold. He was a faithful Roman Catholic priest who held to all of the false doctrines of the church, including the false doctrine of Purgatory. The Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and most of the Reformed church denominations teach the doctrine of Amillennialism – 1.6 million churchgoers.Amillennialism denies the literal fulfilment of the prophecies of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. It is inconceivable that God would fulfil all the prophecies of the Messiah’s First Coming, and then have most of the prophecies of His Second Coming fulfilled in an allegorical manner. It tells us in Scripture: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).” One must ask who is more trustworthy concerning doctrine: the false Roman Catholic church, which invented Amillennialism, or Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Old Testament prophets, the apostles and the early Church fathers? The Reformed church denominations merely held on to that doctrine when they split from the Catholic Church just as some did with other false doctrines such as infant baptism. Even at the Nicene Council (325 A.D.), 318 bishops from all parts of the earth placed themselves on record in believing in a literal Millennial Kingdom.TWO BRANCHES OF CHRISTIANITY EMERGED FROM THE APOSTOLIC ERA If we look at the history of the Bible, it is a record of the mighty conflict between two forces. The forces of righteousness and the forces of evil or between God and the devil. Satan masterminded and manipulated an apostate religion that began to masquerade as Christianity as far back as in the days of the apostles. There is no apostolic succession. Two distinct branches of Christianity emerged from the apostolic era. The true branch, one faithful to Christ and His teachings and the other a false or counterfeit branch guided and influenced by a different spirit that would accept the name of Christ but would twist His teachings to create a convincing counterfeit of the True Church that Christ founded.The Roman church of today is purely a human institution. It’s doctrines, which frequently stand in opposition to God’s word, were never taught by Christ or the apostles. It is evident to anyone who examines the record of the Babylonian rites and practices that were inserted into the Roman Catholic Church. They would see that many of today’s pagan elements within the Catholic Church were taken directly from the Babylonian religion founded by Nimrod after the flood.By creating a counterfeit Christian religion, one that is not entirely different from the true church but rejects some of the essential biblical teachings that lead to eternal life; Satan is attempting to dwarf God’s plan for the salvation of mankind. To accomplish his purpose, Satan exploits human nature. He sways people to believe his deceptions. Satan retains just enough truth in his doctrines to persuade people they are following Christ, but introduces sufficient error to prevent them from living the way that would ultimately lead to faith in what Christ accomplished for us on the cross and to eternal life. Over the centuries the true church has been infiltrated and divided by the powers of unscriptural men directed by Satan in order to try and destroy it.Christ knew what would happen after the disciples were gone. Jesus knew that Satan would infiltrate and counterfeit this young growing Christian church. He knew all of that and what would happen to God’s word, but still the gospel had to go out to the unbelieving world. Jesus knew that Satan would counterfeit the gospel and set up a counterfeit religious system to deceive the masses. But despite Satan’s efforts millions upon millions have come to know the Lord by reading His word – the Bible. Christ identified and even warns people in this apostate end time church of the Tribulation period (Rev. 17). Christ asks people to separate themselves from the Babylonian religious and commercial system that is doomed (RCC). “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities (Rev. 18:4-5).” Yes, Christ Jesus knew everything that was going to happen after the apostles passed on and how Satan would counterfeit the gospel and the true church of Christ Jesus.USE OF ALLEGORY DISTORTS GOD’S PLAN AND PROPHETIC UNDERSTANDINGOften, Bible interpreters incorrectly give Scripture an allegorical or so-called “spiritual” meaning which originated from Origen and Augustine. The third century scholar Origen probably contributed more to doctrinal confusion concerning his methods of biblical interpretation than any other person. Origen was so influential that the current sitting Pope stated, “He draws on the teachings he inherited from Clement of Alexandria, creating an irreversible turn in Christian thought.” Origen also taught against a literal interpretation for most of the first few chapters of Genesis. Here is one such passage from him: “Who is foolish enough to believe that, like a human farmer, God planted a garden in the east of Eden and created in it a visible, physical tree of life, that tasting its fruit with bodily teeth would receive life. And that one would have a part in good and evil by eating the fruit from the appropriate tree?” As you can see, Origen was mostly into allegory, which basically meant that he felt that he could interpret passages to mean almost anything. Not what God is saying, but what do you think God is saying? Clearly, Origen, Augustine and other false teachers were influenced by Satan and were influential in the Roman Church and its teachings. Actually, Satan originated the allegorizing approach to Genesis. Satan persuaded Eve to ignore the literal word of God for the “spiritual benefits” that she would attain. Satan explained that there were spiritual benefits that were greater than the actual Word of God, thus allegorizing away the literal Word of God was an early teaching of Satan.Even though, Augustine claimed that using allegory led to not understanding God’s word, he and the Roman Catholic Church nevertheless decided that allegory was the way they would look at the book of Revelation. Augustine also explained the Millennium, the 1000 year reign of Christ on this earth allegorically and applied it to the Church of Christ on earth. This is very sad and un-biblical, as the early apostolic church taught the Millennium and the future kingdom of God, yet Augustine was now teaching directly against the early apostolic church in the fifth century, even though he originally held to these beliefs earlier in his career. Sadly, since the time of Augustine, those associated with the Roman Catholic Church have done away with much of the true meaning of the book of Revelation by way of allegorizing its actual meaning.A LITERAL MEANING IS VITALMartin Luther said as a Monk, he had been led in allegorical interpretations by the church fathers such as Origen, Jerome, and Augustine, but when he found that they were a “vain shadow,” he began to detest them. Martin Luther rejected the allegorical method and had strong words against it. He said, “Allegories are empty speculations as it were the scum of Holy Scripture, to allegorize is to juggle the Scripture and allegorizing may degenerate into a mere monkey game and that allegories are awkward, absurd and inventive.” Martin Luther also said, “When I was a Monk, I was an expert at allegorizing Scripture, but now my best skill is only to give the literal, sense of Scripture.” The basic meaning of Scripture became clear and simple to Luther.The problem today is, not that God did not give us a method of interpretation, but that man and their churches (deceived by Satan) have refused to use it or have not been diligent in seeking it. The method that God gave is the literal method, or what is called the Grammatical-Historical Method. The Grammatical-Historical Method interprets Scripture by taking into consideration the context of a message, the grammatical usages of the words, and the historical setting in which they were written. The literal method, therefore, let’s Scripture interpret Scripture. It is not a new method in any sense of the word and is the only method in which the Scriptures interpret the Scriptures.God is not the author of confusion. The literal method is letting God interpret what He has said. Surely, God is best qualified to tell us what He means. The Bible is the complete Word of God to man. Revelation 22:18 says that man is not to add to or subtract from the Word of God – the Bible. When God “breathed” on the writers of Scripture He literally produced the Word of God, completely and accurately. Accepting what the words in the Bible literally mean is a vital part of this first rule. Unless the passage says otherwise, or is clearly using metaphorical language, we must give the Scripture a literal meaning. It is a well stated rule; “If the literal sense makes sense, seek no other sense.”The Bible makes statements that are to be taken literally. A good example of this is in Revelation chapter 20. The thousand years mentioned six times, as to draw your attention, is called the “Millennium” and the verse literally states that the time period is a thousand years. Amillennialists falsely assert that the thousand years is only figurative and does not refer to any specific period of time. They deny what God has literally stated when He inspired John to pen this statement in Revelation, chapter 20. Here lies the problem. If it does not mean a literal thousand years, how do we go about determining its “real” meaning? Often, we are told to let the Bible commentator or scholar tell you, because he has education and insights that ordinary Christians do not have. The problem with this answer is then, which Bible commentator, church, or teacher should you trust to have the correct answer? With what criteria do you test each commentator to see who is correct? Do you see the problem? So, when you leave the literal method of interpreting Scripture you have no means to determine what the passage says. It is left up to each person to determine for himself what it means without any standard or system of rules to follow. One can make up any meaning that suits them. Clearly, this leads to great confusion and makes it impossible to know what God intends to tell us.It is obvious from reading Revelation 20, that the thousand years is literal not figurative. There is nothing in the passage that would indicate that the period of time is figurative. Thus, if we accept literally what the Bible says, we are letting the Bible interpret itself. The correct interpretation of the passage is simply that Christ will literally reign for a thousand years on earth, known as the Millennium. The literal meaning of the words tells us what God said. There is no confusion or misunderstanding. So, stick with what I said earlier, “If the literal sense, makes sense, seek no other sense.”There are so many examples where Amillennialists have wrongly interpreted Scripture and biblical prophecy. Let me just give you one more example: God promised the Nation of Israel, in the Millennium, that they would inherit the area of land from the (Nile) river in Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates (Genesis 15:18). The area we’re looking at would be from Cairo in Egypt to Baghdad in Iraq which would also include Jordan and Syria. This land that God had promised them is at least 50 times larger in area than anything they have ever possessed previously. So, it is perfectly clear that the promise has never yet been fulfilled. Surely there is a future for the Jewish people. After all, for 1900 years Israel did not exist, and the Jews were not in the land. But today Jews from around the world are returning to Israel on a daily basis. This is unprecedented in human history. Never has a group of people been dispersed for hundreds of years (in Israel’s case 1900 years) to every corner of the globe, and then regathered back to their homeland. The fact that they did not disappear completely into the cultures in which they were settled throughout the world stands as evidence for God’s existence and faithfulness. God promised to regather them in the last days and He is doing that in our time, in our generation, before our very eyes. People need to understand that God keeps His promises.It is incorrect to interpret this verse in any other way, but to say God literally promised this land to Abraham’s descendants. It does not mean God gave these promises to the church or anyone else. Amillennialists interpret it to mean and believe that the church has now replaced Israel. No. The Euphrates River does not mean the Sea of Galilee or any other body of water, nor does it have a mystical meaning. It has only one meaning. That meaning must govern the interpretation of a verse or passage. This promise that God gave to Israel is still in the future. Israel still has a future in God’s plans, as this promise has never been fulfilled, and I’m not about to call God a liar. As a matter of fact, according to Jesus, the Jewish repossession of Jerusalem will precede His return. For 1900 years born-again believers could not point to this sign, but today in our generation both Israel and Jerusalem are back in Jewish hands just as God predicted. So, you can see Amillennialism is complete nonsense as well as a false doctrine. Allegorizing and spiritualizing of Scripture is unscriptural nonsense which Satan has used to deceive the masses when he counterfeited God’s true church with his own brand of counterfeit Christianity. What was the result? This Roman state dominated religion calling itself Christian became a bizarre synthesis of beliefs, rituals, practices, and customs from many sources.THE NONSENSE OF AMILLENNIALISMMost Amillennialists apparently subscribe to four propositions:(1). There is no future Millennium and believe that we are in the Millennium now. They believe that we have been living in the Millennium of Peace since the time of Christ.(2). That there is no future for Israel, the church has replaced Israel in God’s plan. The many promises made to Israel in the Bible are fulfilled in the church, not in Israel. The church is now the new Israel and they teach that the Jewish people have no special future and no longer have a special purpose in the plan of God.(3). That all the prophecies of the New Testament are to be spiritually realized in the church.(4). Satan has been bound, either fully or partially depending on who you talk to. They believe and teach that Satan is no longer active in the world. That he is no longer deceiving people or the nations of the world.A little more than ¼ of the entire Bible is direct prophecy. No one has the right to tamper with Scripture and advance an opinion and superimpose it upon a pronouncement. What God says concerning the future is as exactly true as what God has recorded concerning the past, and we are no more allowed an opinion concerning God’s pronouncements about the future than we are about those concerning the past.Israel’s sphere is “earthly,” the Church’s sphere is “heavenly,” and they should not be confused. If the Amillennialists are right, then there is no rapture of the church, no judgement or rewarding seat of Christ before that great and awful judgement of the Great White Throne. Can there be any present assurance of salvation for anyone, if we cannot know whether or not we are truly saved until the books are opened on that final great day?Israel is not the church and the throne of David is not in heaven – it is on earth. In the Bible there are three streams of prophecy, no more and no less. There is no prophecy in all of Holy Scripture concerning mankind which cannot be put into one of these divisions. There is one stream of prophecy wholly concerned with the Jews. There is a second stream wholly concerned with the nations of the world, frequently called the Gentiles. Then there is a third stream entirely relating to the church of the Redeemed in Christ Jesus.When I consider the suggestion of spiritualizing the promises made to Israel and handing them over to the church, I see a very grave danger because there are certain prophecies given by God to His own earthly people (Israel). Take for instance, the prophecies of Isaiah. I am asked by Amillennialists to believe that some of these chapters which speak about the great reign of peace and the time of universal prosperity and well-being under the benevolent rulership of Christ Jesus, are today being fulfilled in the church. In other words, they say the prophecy does not mean precisely what it literally says. They say that it is only inherited to indicate the blessed state of the church in this age. If you say that, you are in a serious position, for if I may spiritualize the 2nd or the 60th chapter of Isaiah, both of which are prophetic of the Millennial period then why can’t I spiritualize that great prophecy of the atonement in the 53rd chapter. You see, such treatment of Scripture doesn’t make any sense, it’s totally bizarre.The Book means precisely what it says. I would like to challenge anyone to find in the Bible one single prophecy of Christ’s First Coming which was not literally, precisely, and exactly fulfilled as it is written. That being said, would it not make sense that all of the prophecies concerning Christ’s Second Coming would be fulfilled literally just as well? After all, these were the same prophets who God instructed concerning Jesus’ First Coming.I have read that in the Old Testament there are more than 2000 prophecies, some 300 prophecies regarding Jesus alone. I’ve also read from historians that there are approximately 500 prophecies in the New Testament. Most of which are still in the future concerning the Rapture, end time apostate church, the Antichrist, Marriage Supper of the Lamb, the Great Tribulation, the Battle of Armageddon, the binding of Satan, the Millennial reign of Christ, National Israel recognizing the One whom their fore-fathers had pierced and accepting Jesus as their Messiah, the Crowning and Glorification of Jesus Christ that God had promised to His Son, a New Heaven and New Earth plus others.One quarter of the Bible is all about prophecy. If you were to tear out one quarter of your Bible pages what kind of a Bible would you have left? It certainly wouldn’t make much sense. Now, if all these prophecies were fulfilled literally at Christ’s First Coming, wouldn’t it make sense that all the prophecies concerning Christ’s Second Coming would also be fulfilled literally as well? Remember, God is not the author of confusion, but man is.I am going to have to stop here as I have run out of space and will continue this in a second posting next week. I hope this posting is cohesive as I’ve had to edit and condense a lot of my notes from my previous studies on Amillennialism going back many, many, years ago. I’ve had to leave out a lot so I can get this all into 2 postings instead of 3 or 4. I hope this has been very educational regarding the two branches of Christianity that emerged from the apostolic era, the false doctrine of Amillennialism and why most pastors don’t teach on one quarter of the Bible because of the dominant view of Amillennialism in the Roman Catholic Church and most of the Reformed church denominations – 1.6 billion churchgoers. >Oscar LeskeF/B – Signs Of Our TimesUnderstanding The Signs Of Our Times .com

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